Angry crowd demands Youngspiration oath pair quit Hong Kong Legco
Businessmen, politicians, and anti-Japanese occupation fighters join coachloads of angry protesters to decry China slurs in chamber
Thousands of protesters, politicians and community and business leaders occupied the public square outside the Legislative Council complex yesterday to condemn two Youngspiration lawmakers for anti-Chinese slurs during their members’ oaths.
Chinese flags and banners branding the pair “traitors” and “scum” fringed the pavements leading to the entrance of the Admiralty building. Coachloads of protesters – mostly old people – descended, while others flooded in from the nearby MTR station, waving placards with slogans demanding Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching be “thrown out of the Legco”.
The organisers – a group of 25 pro-Beijing parties and community and business groups calling itself the Anti-China-Insulting, Anti-Hong Kong Independence Alliance – said more than 10,000 people joined it. Police estimated the crowd peaked at 8,720.
During their Legco pledges on October 12, Leung and Yau swore allegiance to “the Hong Kong nation” and pronounced China as “Chee-na”, similar to the derogatory Shina used by the Japanese during wartime. Despite outcry, the pair refused to apologise.
